How To Write A Cover Story
by purpledragon6
Summary: When Nick's mother comes to Zootopia for a visit... Just one problem with that. There are some things Nick's mom doesn't know about, such as her son's checkered past. Wilde/Hopps. Duh!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: You know those stories that are so overplayed, but you have the time and ability to write your own take on it so you do it anyhow? Yeah, thats pretty much this.**

 **Summary: Nick's mom comes to visit Zootopia. Hi-jinx ensue.**

* * *

 **15 Years Earlier:**

 _He was covered in dirt and bruises when he came home that day, no doubt from ANOTHER scrap he had somehow managed to get himself into. His clothes being torn in a few places and the skin on one of his knuckles being broken further proved this theory. Casually, he walked past his mother's home office (a spare room fixed with an office chair and a computer), waved to her and then made off for his bedroom as if nothing were wrong at all. His mother, however, sprang up from her chair and ran to him, stopping him before he could reach the bedroom door._

 _"What happened." She asked sternly looking the smaller fox over thoroughly before shoving him away to an arms length to look at him in full view._

 _"I got in a fight with some guy at school." He answered bluntly, attempting to brush her hands off of him._

 _"Which "some guy"?" She asked, trying to sound as calm as she could, still eyeing a few of the bruises carefully._

 _"Just some guy, okay!?" Her son huffed, finally pulling away from her and shuffling away from her. "Its not like this is any different from any other week..."_

 _"Well I am not going to stand for it, just like any other week, Nicholas." She snapped, as she wasted no time in going to her phone._

 _"Mom, its seriously no big deal." Nick tried to argue, trying to beat her to the phone and failing miserably._

 _"It is a big deal to me." She replied, going once more to pick up the phone._

 _"You know, sooner or later I'm going to have to fend for myself without you stepping in." He muttered, backing off and away from the phone. "I don't need a girl protecting me."_

 _"You do so, now quiet." She snapped._

 _With a gentle huff, she picked up the phone, and called the school. Upon answering, the short phone call revealed that they knew nothing about the 17 year old getting into a fight with anyone, and that if it had happened on the school grounds then they would have noticed. Regardless, they said they would keep a closer eye on the boy until they found out who he had the fight with._

 _"See? I told you, its no big deal. If it were then the school would care about it." Nick said sarcastically, as his clearly flustered mother turned and took him up stairs._

 _"That is absolutely ridiculous!" She yelped as she stopped at the hall closet and took down the first aid kit._

 _She took out a wet down wash cloth from a ziplock baggy and began to wash off the cut, a little harder than she intended. He winced in pain as she did this, but knew better than to say anything while she was in this type of mood. It was best to just let her patch him up._

 _"Even if they didn't see it, they should at least teach their students not to fight each other! Theres an idea for a class!" She pulled out a pack of Band-Aids and put them on the open wounds._

 _"We still own Disney band-aids? How old are these?" The cartoons on the band-aids may have made him laugh weakly, but not his mother._

 _"Try taking this seriously, or at least humor me, honey." The older fox sighed, slowly pulling herself to her feet again._

 _"Seriously mom? That is a valid question." Nick replied smoothly, smiling a little when his mother giggled softly. "Theres that laugh I love."_

 _"Thank you, honey... You're always so bright." With that, she took him back down stairs and sat him on the couch and turned on the TV._

 _Slipping into the kitchen, she returned with an ice-pack and placed it on one of the bruises. She turned to leave the room once again, happy to see that he was okay now, but still, she was curious as to who had started the fight. Regardless, he was right when he said that sooner or later she would have to stop intervening._

 _"I just hope he can handle himself like this always... Or at least finds a nice girl who can do my job for m- Nope. Don't even talk like that, Nichole Wilde."_

* * *

 **15 Years Later:**

The officer before Nick gave him an angered look, eyeing the fox dangerously like a principal would to a misbehaved student with a record (which technically he was, technically), then sent one to the figure of a fennec fox beside the red fox. Both tensed up under the gaze, trying not to let their fear show too much, though it may have been a little too late for that.

"I just need to ask; What on God's green earth were you thinking when you did this!?" Bogo exclaimed, turning his attention to the fox this time.

"Um, absolutely nothing, sir." Nick replied, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"Obviously!" Bogo snapped, turning his attention to Finnick. "I expected this from you, but I really thought Officer Wilde would have wised up by now."

"Well, you thought wrong." Nick replied, this time seriously without thinking.

"You know, I really should have just taken your badge-" Bogo was cut off suddenly by the office door being flung open by what seemed to be a disembodied force.

"I'm here to pick up my partner." A firm, but still sweet voice, said sternly.

Nick relaxed instantly when he recognized the voice, only to tense up again when he fully registered whose voice it was. It was the voice of Judy Hopps; the only rabbit he knew of that could now make him fear for his life. She entered the room brisky, and sat down at the end of the row of chairs, just one seat away from Nick.

"What did they do this time?" She asked, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at the two 'criminals'.

"They covered my car in sticky notes and got into a fist fight with a mailbox." Bogo said, watching with what seemed to be satisfaction as Nick attempted to slide further away from Judy.

"How long did the "fist fight" go on for?" She asked, looking back to Bogo.

"15 minutes, but only because it took me a while to figure out what the heck it was they were doing." He muttered, once again glaring at the troubled pair.

"You should have told me that the moment it happened." She said sternly, turning and grabbing both foxes by their ears, getting up from her chair, and pulling them. "Don't worry, Bogo. I'll handle this."

"I know." He said, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back in his chair. "Try to scare them into sanity for a bit, Hopps."

"Don't I always?" Judy huffed, continuing to drag the boys off. "I swear, sometimes I feel more like a mom to you two than a partner and whatever the heck I am to you, Finnick."

"A mildly annoying friend of a friend who I sometimes talk to." Finnick replied stiffly, wincing as Judy pulled particularly hard on his ear.

"Well lucky you then, because that means I don't have to bother with you at all." Judy scoffed, turning him loose the moment they were outside of the police department.

"Good to know. Good luck, Nicky." Finnick laughed, turning suddenly and making a mad dash away from the bunny.

"As for you, Nicholas Wilde-" Judy began, looking up at the fox whose ear she still held in an iron grip.

"O-ow, ow, ow! Carrots! Could you let up a little before you tear my entire ear off!?" Nick whined, trying to swat her hands away quickly.

"Absolutely not! You're in trouble for being an idiot again, so I'm well within my rights to tear it off as much as I want!" Judy said, though she eventually released him.

"Cripes... You really do sound like a mom." Nick sighed, rubbing his sore ears.

"Well, someone has to be for you." Judy replied stiffly, rolling her purple eyes before leading Nick to their shared car.

"Yeah, that someone would be my own mother." Nick said with a laugh, rolling his own eyes before getting in. "But heres the thing; I'm an adult, so shes outta job."

Judy rolled her eyes once again, her corneas starting to get sore from doing that, this time landing on her car keys and turning them. Before the engine even had a chance to flip over, the pairs' radio beeped, and it was suddenly a mad dash to grab the radio first.

"Officer-" Nick started, only to have the radio tackled away from him by his rabbit partner.

"Judy-" Judy tried to finish, but was stopped by Nick grabbing the radio back.

"Wilde!" Both stopped, the radio dropped by Nick, who proceeded to facepalm in embarrassment.

"Judy Wilde?" The officer on the other end, a co-worker whose name was never memorized by either the rabbit nor the fox, cracked up.

"Nick! Why would you say Wilde after I said Judy!?" Judy gasped, grabbing the radio back with a fury.

"I'm sorry! I thought we were doing that thing where we say every other word of what we meant to say while talking over the other!" Nick groaned, still facepalming.

"Why on Earth would we be doing that!?" Judy exclaimed, only to calm herself quickly. "This is even worse than the mailbox thing..."

"What mailbox thing?" The officer on the other end of the radio asked.

"Not important! Whats going on?" Judy cut in, not giving Nick any room to explain himself.

"I was just calling to say that theres been a break in at your apartment, Officer Hopps." The officer said. "Or at least that is what your neighbors said happened."

"We're on it. We were heading there anyhow." Judy replied, stepping on the gas and taking off down the road.

* * *

With Judy's bad but fast driving, the pair made it to the apartment in record time, and will minimal damage to Nick's face this time. Upon parking, the two got out quickly and rushed into the building and up to Judy's apartment, where the door was left wide open. Cautiously, Judy reached for her fox repellent, while Nick just stood behind his Judy since she seemed to have things covered already. Quietly, they entered the apartment slowly, trying not to alert the intentional intruder of their presence.

"I wonder who would be crazy enough to break into your apartment, Hopps." Nick noted in a rather loud whisper, trying not to crack himself up at the comment.

"Shut up, Nick! We're trying to be stealthy." Judy quietly yelled, turning to Nick.

In was in the second that she turned that she lost sight of the coffee table just feet before her, and proceeded to very loudly trip over it, knock it onto its side, and accidentally fling herself loudly onto the floor beside it in the fall. Nick went rigid with surprise, hurrying to help up his partner. However, footsteps caused him to freeze up once again and turn his attention to the source of the sound.

"Nicholas!" A female's voice called out.

"Oh God... How did she find me aga-" Nick was cut off suddenly by a female fox, who proceeded to tackle him into a loving but bone crushing hug. "Gah! Can't. Breathe!"

"Um... Anyone want to fill me in?" Judy sighed, finally helping her own self up. "Like telling me who this intruder is?"

This new fox suddenly let go of Nick and whipped around to face Judy, a look of excitement scrawled onto her face as she picked up the bunny and hugged her just as tightly as she did with Nick.

"Oh! I'm sorry for not introducing myself first. I'm Nichole Wilde." The fox replied, and instantly Judy was able to piece together what was going on.

Nick didn't know why, but there was something about that smile of Judy's when she figured things out that it kinda scared him a little. Just a little.


	2. Chapter 2

_'Shes been talking for an hour now...'_

 **Buzz, Buzz, Buzz ...**

 _'She might as well have started with the story of Adam and Eve, and just work her way back! Thats how long this story has taken and she hasn't even gotten to the part about WHY AND HOW she got into my house!'_

 **Buzz, Buzz, Buzz!**

 _'HOW LONG AS THAT FLY BEEN HERE FOR!?'_

The flying pest circled around the bunny cop's head, taunting her with its annoying sound. It had been playing its damned little game for almost a full minute now, and Judy was getting sick of it. On a normal day, she would have gone about with rolling up a newspaper and leaping from the couch to swat at the fly, only to promptly miss it by a mile, but today was different. With a very soft, growl like sound, Judy lept off of the couch and set both of her paws onto the coffee table before her, just as the fly and buzzed by again. This really began to grate on her nerves, but not as much as her unexpected guest was.

"And then I- going somewhere, ma'am? I was just in the middle of-!" Nichole was cut off promptly by a wave of her son's hand.

"Its just a fly, mom. Let Judy handle it and then you can go back to retelling the story of how you broke into her house." Nick mused, taking a magazine off of the table and rolling it up for Judy. "Isn't that right, carrots?"

"Yes." Judy replied, giving her a friend a thankful look as he freed her from the almost torture that was listening to this droning story. "You stupid, buzzing thing!"

The fly took off, but suddenly landed on the nearby lamp and sat, as if trying to act like an open target for the scornful bunny. She snuck up quietly behind it, and suddenly swung at it again, but instead of squashing the thing, she hit a lamp. The lamp spun like a top on the table, but quickly landed on its flattened base and stilled once more. Ignoring it, Judy took off after the fly once again, leaving the two foxes to wait in the livingroom as she ran around her small apartment with the magazine in hand still.

"She sure has a temper." Nichole muttered, folding her arms over her chest.

"Who? Carrots? Nah." Nick smirked, turning to his bunny friend once again.

"YOU WILL NOT BEAT ME!" She shouted, just as Nick finished up his sentence, his cocky smirk falling suddenly.

"Hey, Carrots?" Nick started, but stopped and ducked when the newspaper was swung at him, only to miss him and strike the lamp once again. "What the heck!?"

The tacky lamp that Nick had given Judy that she kept around for a good laugh, did not escape death, and was now shattered upon the living room floor. Amidst the mess of broken glass, Judy looked up at her friend with innocent eyes as she promptly dropped the rolled up magazine and whistled innocently.

"I'm going to turn around and assume you didn't do that and that the fly is dead now." The fox finished his statement, then promptly swiveled around on his heels and faced the other direction.

Judy slapped a paw over her face and groaned softly into it for a short while before releasing it and tromping over to Nick, who she promptly grabbed by his tie and yanked him into the other room, the fly and Nichole ignored by her.

"Nick, could I talk to you privately for a second?" Judy asked, despite already dragging the fox away.

"About how you went savage on a fly and murdered that innocent lamp?" Nick joked, only to stop when Judy glared at him.

"Not funny." She snapped, all but shoving him into the bathroom and following him in.

"I was just kidding... Seriously, whats up?" Nick asked, folding his arms over his chest in a similar fashion to how his mother had earlier.

"Nick... Its not that I don't like you mom- I mean, I did just meet her and everything, but-" Judy was cut off by a wave of the fox's arm, doing a windmill like motion over her face.

"Carrots, I already know what you're going to say. Let me just tell you that 1.) My mom talks forever, and trust me, you never get used to it, 2.)-"

"Now I see where you get it from..." Judy muttered faster than she could think.

"Whats that supposed to mean!? I don't talk-" It was Judy's turn to cut off the fox.

"This coming from the guy who ADMITTED to felony tax evasion to a COP!" Judy shot back, clenching her fists as she spoke.

"Would you let me finish just one sentence!?" Nick yelled a little louder than he would have liked.

"If I did that then we'd be in this bathroom forever!"

"Why are you getting so tail hurt over this? Usually you're so "Sunshine and roses" around new people. I thought you wouldn't mind." Nick pointed out, only to realize his mistake and wince in anticipation for the grief Judy was about to give him for it.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm just a little confused and stressed out about YOUR MOM suddenly BREAKING INTO MY HOUSE, during work." Judy admitted with a little shrug. "And since you just admitted that you were the one that invited her, then you should be the one to explain things in simple words to me."

"But I thought I talk forever like my mom." Nick reminded her, earning a sharp kick to the shin. "OW!"

"Keep it short. I know how to kill you, hide your body, and make it look like an accident!" Judy yelped, but then took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Fine... So, maybe my mom doesn't know about the whole "Con-artist since 12" thing, and when she called me the other day, I KINDA, maybe, sorta, that is to say- told her a bit of a different story than what really happened in the last few months-?" Nick stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Geez, I really wish I was in the fly's position right now..."

"So what did you tell her?" Judy sighed, rubbing her face with both paws. "And when did you plan on telling me about it?"

"I may have told her that you were my wife, and never." Nick admitted with a slow nod of the head. "I didn't want to tell you. I knew you would get mad."

"Oh, I'm not mad, Nick." Judy began, taking a deep breath.

"Oh, oh good. I thought you would be ma-"

"MAD DOESN'T BEGIN TO COVER IT!" Judy yelped, suddenly smacking at her friend angrily.

"Okay. Okay no, that just... Doesn't really hurt me." Nick sighed, gently pushing Judy away from his person. "Come on. Its only for a few hours. Then she'll leave and you can kill me for it."

"Oh, trust me. I plan to kill you!" Judy growled, though it more so came out as a very aggressive purr.

"Perfect! You fit the wife role perfectly!" Nick joked, suddenly turning to leave the bathroom, turning to look at Judy over his shoulder as he did.

"I never said that I would play along with this!" Judy called after him.

"Oh yes you will. Because if you don't, then we'll be stuck here explaining the last few years of my life to my mom instead of working." Nick challenged, watching as Judy's ears fell. "Its called a hustle, sweetheart."

"I feel like I should know that by now." Judy muttered, following after Nick tiredly.

"I'll get it printed on a coffee cup, hun." Nick laughed, suddenly zipping out of the bathroom door.

"You'll get it printed on your headstone when this is over!"

.


End file.
